Donald asks…
Do you know about the inhuman and unhygienic conditions at Willacy detention center , Raymondville, Texas?
This disgusting concentration camp is a blot on the landscape, a blight upon the reputation of decent Americans and a monument to its instigator, George Wa*ker Bush.
If more decent people in the USA knew how this place was run they would be protesting outside it with banners.
From the “Washington Post”
RAYMONDVILLE, Tex. — Ringed by barbed wire, a futuristic tent city rises from the Rio Grande Valley in the remote southern tip of Texas, the largest camp in a federal detention system rapidly gearing up to keep pace with Washington’s increasing demand for stronger enforcement of immigration laws.
About 2,000 illegal immigrants, part of a record 26,500 held across the United States by federal authorities, will call the 10 giant tents home for weeks, months and perhaps years before they are removed from the United States and sent back to their home countries.
About 2,000 illegal immigrants are being held in this detention facility in South Texas, awaiting deportation to their home countries. Some may wait months or years. (By Kirsten Luce For The Washington Post)
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The $65 million tent city, built hastily last summer between a federal prison and a county jail, marks both the success and the limits of the government’s new policy of holding captured non-Mexicans until they are sent home. Previously, most such detainees were released into the United States before hearings, and a majority simply disappeared.
The new policy has led to a dramatic decline in border crossings by non-Mexicans, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
But civil liberties and immigration law groups allege that out of sight, the system is bursting at the seams. In the Texas facility, they say, illegal immigrants are confined 23 hours a day in windowless tents made of a Kevlar-like material, often with insufficient food, clothing, medical care and access to telephones. Many are transferred from the East Coast, 1,500 miles from relatives and lawyers, virtually cutting off access to counsel.
“I call it ‘Ritmo’ — like Gitmo, but it’s in Raymondville,” said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration lawyer from nearby Harlingen.
An inspector general’s report last month on a sampling of five U.S. immigration detention facilities found inhumane and unsafe conditions, including inadequate health care, the presence of vermin, limited access to clean underwear and undercooked poultry. Although ICE standards require that immigrants have access to phones and pro bono law offices, investigators found phones missing, not working or connected to non-working numbers.
With roughly 1.6 million illegal immigrants in some stage of immigration proceedings, ICE holds more inmates a night than Clarion hotels have guests, operates nearly as many vehicles as Greyhound has buses and flies more people each day than do many small U.S. airlines.
Gary Mead, assistant director of ICE detention and removal operations, said the agency is proud of its record, calling Raymondville “a modern, clean facility” that meets federal standards — “which we believe are among the highest you’ll find anywhere.” Mead added: “We think the conditions of confinement there are both humane and consistent with all the rights they should be entitled to.”
Despite its spartan conditions, the facility in Willacy County, 260 miles south of Austin, is a key to President Bush’s drive to create a channel for temporary foreign workers and a path toward legalization for as many as 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.
To do so, the government must convince skeptics that it can credibly enforce laws aimed at illegal immigrants and their employers, and can hold and deport those caught by the U.S. Border Patrol. At the same time, the administration and its allies argue that even additional detention beds will be overwhelmed without new channels for legal immigration.
Accordingly, the United States has embarked on a huge prison building and contracting campaign, increasing the number of illegal immigrants detained from 19,718 a day in 2005 to about 26,500 now, and a projected 32,000 this summer.
vti answers:
Raymondville is a lot further than just 260 miles from Austin. It is over 200 just to Corpus from Austin.
Is Raymondville one of the Wackenhut facilities? Prisons are privately run nowadays.
Why would illegal immigrants be sentenced to
Raymondville in the first place? Most of them are just sent home. I believe in amnesty for our immigrants because they are looking for a better life. Make them citizens and tax them.
If I was born in Nuevo Laredo, I would be swimming that river too.
By the way, it is extremely expensive to apply for citizenship. Make it more affordable and more people would go through the correct channels.
*San Antonio girl*
Sandy asks…
Has America failed it’s people?
The freshest statistics, covering 2007, were served up this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
An estimated 36.2 million people struggled with some form of hunger (or, to use the government term, “food insecurity.”)
That’s 12.2 percent of the population – one in eight Americans.
Among them . . . some 691,000 children.
The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, estimated that medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans every year, if both debtors and their dependents, including about 700,000 children, are counted.
“Our study is frightening. Unless you’re Bill Gates you’re just one serious illness away from bankruptcy,” said Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who led the study.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/21/i-have-a-master%E2%80%99s-degree-i-shouldn%E2%80%99t-have-to-do-this/
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0202-08.htm
vti answers:
Oh please. Never in history has it been easier to feed, clothe and shelter oneself than it is in the US today.
Paul asks…
I Need Useless Tags for a Video Related to UFOs, anybody have any?
You know what i mean?
activism, advertising, alcohol, alternative-news, ancient-history, animals, animation, anime, architecture, arts, astronomy, atheist, bizarre, blogs, books, buddhism, business, cars, cartoons, cats, celebrities, christianity, classic-rock, clothing, comedy-movies, comics, computer-graphics, computer-hardware, computers, cooking, crafts, crime, cyberculture, dogs, drawing, drugs, ecommerce, environment, fashion, fine-arts, firefox, geography, graphic-design, guitar, guns, hacking, health, history, humor, illusions, interior-design, internet, internet-tools, iraq, liberal-politics, liberties, linguistics, linux, literature, mac-os, mathematics, movies, multimedia, music, nature, network-security, news, online-games, open-source, painting, philosophy, photography, physics, poetry, politics, programming, psychology, quizzes, relationships, religion, satire, science, science-fiction, self-improvement, shopping, software, space-exploration, stumblers, stumbleupon, tattoos, travel, tv, video, video-games, web-design, windows, writing, actors, america, apple, art, aviation, blog, blogging, bush, california, car, cartoon, cat, celebrity, charity, children, climate-change, college, comedy, comic, community, dance, death, debate, design, diet, diy, dog, economy, election, elections, energy, entertainment, exercise, facebook, film, finance, flash, flowers, food, football, funny, gadgets, game, games, gaming, global-warming, god, google, graffiti, green, home, humour, illustration, images, internet-marketing, life, living, love, mac, marriage, math, media, medicine, microsoft, money, music-video, obama, oil, online, paintings, pakistan, peace, photo, photos, photoshop, pictures, pirates, president, quotes, recipe, recipes, republican, rock, sculpture, security, social-media, social-networking, society, space, star-wars, tech, technology, television, tips, tools, tutorials, ubuntu, vegan, video, videos, vintage, war, water, web, web-development, weird, wordpress, youtube, sex, sexy, hot, love, porn, president, 2008, 2009, winter, secret, omg, no, way, amplafitesttag, art, arts, bank, barackobama, bi, bisexual, blues, broadway, business, c, canvass, children, classical, college, comedy, community, communityservice, concert, conference, convention, country, county, dance, debatewatchparty, design, development, drive, election, election08, entrepreneur, event, events, fair, family, festival, field, filmfest, florida, football, for, free, fun, fundraising, halloween, haunted, indie, iowavoteearlyforchangeweekofac, jazz, kids, league, live, local, localfieldoffice, london, management, marketing, media, meeting, music, musicals, mybo, national, networking, new, nfl, nyc, obama, of, office, organizing, party, performance, phone, phonebank, pop, pride, prideevent, pridefest, registration, rock, service, show, shows, social, sport, sports, startup, technology, theater, tour, voter, voterregistrationdrive, w, web, western, women, women for obama, workshop, , free, money, cash, movie, download
Something like that but maybe related to aliens ufos and space?
Thanks I really appreciate the help
vti answers:
Alien, aliens, space, MUFON, UFO, outerspace, conspiracytheory, greys, alienabduction, flyingsaucers
Michael asks…
“Internet Addictions” – A Real Medical Menace?” What do you think?
“Alcohol, drugs, food, sex, and even shopping are all candidates for medical treatment and are recognized as genuine mental disorders, so what about the Internet? Internet addiction -defined as “excessive gaming, sexual pre-occupations, and email/text messaging” – is becoming so common that at least one psychiatrist says it merits inclusion in psychiatry’s official handbook of mental illness, the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.”
Dr. Jerald Block of the Oregon Health and Science University is the latest voice pushing for this inclusion, noting that tech junkies display genuinely debilitating behavior, including drug-like cravings, withdrawal, and a constant need for more and better gear – just like a substance addict might exhibit.”
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/87251;_ylt=AviKlUNisUIlm92akNJ7zt5qMJA5
vti answers:
I guess it can serve as an addiction. Take the popular game, WoW. There are millions of stories on WoW widows or widowers who have neglected their spouses, friends and families because of the game.
Ken asks…
Healthy diet change plan, help needed!?
I’m 14, 5′ 3.5′ and 105 lbs. Perfect (for me) height and weight. Although, eating choices can be difficult, so this year I have resolved to eat healthier. Eating ‘vegetarian’ foods. Eating this way has a lot of health benefits, and some research shows expelling meats, eggs, and dairy from a diet is also a benefit to the planet. And on top of that, I like the healthy foods more, and if I wanna change, its now or never! But… With the ‘nutrition fact’ labels and serving sizes, I get very confused. I need to know how much of what I should eat, and I will stick to that. I’m also a track runner so I will be getting exercise, and of course, I will drink water. Any useful info would be great, I am going to the doc next week so, I will go over everything with a doctor, no worries! Any tips, guidelines, recommendations for books or blogs about vegetarianism, or healthy living, that you wanna share, much appreciated! Thank You!
vti answers:
Because you are a runner, you need your protein, Diet for a Small Planet is a perfect vegetarian book. There are many recipes all Vegetarian will Essential amino acids.
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